Re: Uh... feel free to build out your own nationwide network...

The public v. private can always go either way depending on the services being offered, locale, time of year, etc.

The problem is apparent when you can see that it's a law been put into place only to serve existing business. Arguing that the law was put into place with the conviction that it will stave off yet another endless public money pit seems a bit presumptuous.

As per the inappropriateness, I understand that point and can certainly agree that there are instances where that would apply. The government is the government, or it should be anyway. If all is running well then they shouldn't have to get into a service that one would hope would be efficiently run by private enterprise. They should stick to what they do and run the municipality/state/province/etc. One could also argue that as time moves forward, the idea of internet access and it's level of use within our society is slowly moving it towards being a Utility (i.e. power, water, gas, etc.)

Ignoring other industries for a moment, I think many would agree that there are some very glaring and obvious examples in the residential broadband industry where the private lobby stomps on a muni start-up, lest they have to offer something better than $50/mo 5-mbit connections.

The very definition of capitalism by which a private business would be run by in an area where they may be the sole service provider steers them towards a model of how much cash can they pull in providing the lowest amount of service. A municipal upstart is something that local residents can agree on to pay for themselves (local democracy at work) assuming a value added proposal is put forth and it means better service and/or more cash in their pocket eventually.

Any provided public service can be thought of as another horse in the race. We can speak of bloat in the public sector all day, but it happens privately too. So I think that's a non-starter against muni broadband.--....where's my fiber?